NEW ORLEANS  Ray Lewis had a recurring dream. And every time he saw the same ending.

In a speech to his teammates on Saturday night, the Baltimore Ravens’ emotional leader and most polarizing figure, told his teammates that God had showed him in a vision that they would be champions.

“I wanted them to know what this feeling was like,” Lewis said Sunday night after Baltimore held on for a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.

Love him or hate him, believe he is the product of redemption or an enduring fraud, there is no denying that Lewis leaves the game a champion.

“I can talk about self now,” Lewis said. “What better way to go out? Now I get to march off into the sunset with my second ring. My second ring.”

Lewis was the MVP of Super Bowl XXV, after his fifth season.

A dozen years later, It was abundantly clear on Sunday that the game has all but passed Lewis by. At 37 years old, at the end of his 17th season, he has lost a step he’ll never get back.

But he and his teammates will remember his final few plays on the field as among the finest they've ever played.

A 49ers offense that seemed for large parts of the game to be able to move the ball at will against Lewis and his band of aging Ravens defenders, drove from their 20 to the Baltimore 7-yard line in five plays. The 49ers had first-and-goal with two minutes, 39 seconds remaining.

But four plays later, a Colin Kaepernick pass fell incomplete on fourth down.

“That was one of the most amazing goal line stands I’ve ever been a part of,” said the man whose 228 regular season NFL games, more than all but five linebackers in history. “For us to stand up like that, it’s a testament to us.”

What happened after the game was that virtually every interview of a Ravens player turned into a testimonial for Lewis.

“His legacy, how he is as a player on and off the field, for what he taught me how to work,” said safety Ed Reed, who detailed how Lewis elevated his training regimen. “He helped me to get to this point.”

Lewis said his best play came “when the clock hit triple zeroes.”

Given his often lacking performance, it might have come before the game.

Jacoby Jones, who returned the opening kick of the second half 108 yards for a touchdown, told of a moment that seemed to perplex him but clearly also affected him.

“That dude is amazing,” Jones said before relaying a story in which Lewis walked up to him, put his hands on his chest and said simply, “I’m doing what I was told to do.”

Jones shrugged in the re-telling and said, “I think he meant the man upstairs.”

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was MVP of the game, and he took time in his postgame press conference to laud Lewis.

“Ray is a great person,” Flacco said. “… He’s the best teammate. It’s unbelievable to send him out like this. He wanted us to feel what this was like.”